Meetings In Life
by OMG-fangirl
Summary: Eponine meets someone very interesting at work, Grantaire forget something major, Ethan's a little cutie, Marius is uncomfortable, and Cosette, well, she's Cosette. Part 3 in my 'Life' series. Mention's some Enjolras. 2 OC'S Warning: some language


A/N: Here it is! The 3rd part in my 'Life' series. Requested by PJOKCHG. Enjoy. Also, if you love Ethan, than this chapter is for you :) Warning: Some language

* * *

Eponine sighed as she got up for work. Once she had gotten up, she went over and checked on Ethan who was now 3 months old and sound asleep. It had been 8 months since Enjolras had died and Eponine was still coping but was much better than she was just a couple of months ago. She recently got a job at the cafe to make sure that she made ends meet. She still had money coming in from the military but rarely ever used it. She liked to use the money that she earned to pay for her stuff and Ethan's. She mostly spent the money on Ethan more than herself, only buy necessary things for her. She didn't have to worry about getting Ethan toys or anything, he already had more toys now at 3 months old than Enjolras did when he was 3 months old, courtesy of the Les Amis and Enjolras parents. She actually ended up having to put her foot down about them constantly getting him toys. She hopped into the shower and took a fairly quick one. By the time she was out of the shower, dressed, and ready, Ethan had just woken up. She walked over to his crib and picked him up.

"Hey baby." Eponine said softly as she kissed the top of Ethan's head. He gurgled/giggled in response as he laid his head on her chest. She walked over to the changing table and got him dressed. Once Ethan was all dressed, she took him out into the living room, put him in his bouncer, and gave him a bottle before starting on making her breakfast. She made herself eggs, bacon, and toast, by this time Ethan had finished off his bottle and was now playing with his toys on his bouncer. Eponine smiled at him while making her way to the couch with her food and coffee. Ethan looked up at his mom and squealed at her, Eponine just laughed at him. She sat down at the couch while Ethan went back to playing with his toys on his bouncer. She just sat there and watched him while eating her food. Sometimes she would watch TV, other times she would just watch Ethan play and be a happy baby. Sometimes she wishes she could share these moments with someone, someone who will actually remember it. She wishes Enjolras was here with her, eating breakfast on the couch while they watch there son being a baby, a happy one at that. She wishes that he was still here to help her with Ethan at times that he was being fussy. She wishes that she could tell him that she loved him one last time. She notices that the just in the few months that she's had Ethan in her life, that each day he looks more and more like Enjolras. She likes to call him a mini Enjolras in her mind. She has no doubt that if Enjolras was still with her, they would joke about this for hours on end.

She was pulled out of her reverie by Ethan crying. She looked up at the time and saw that it was almost time for Grantaire to get there. She normally had Grantaire or one of the other Amis watching Ethan while she was at work. She only worked part time so she worked for a few hours before coming home to Ethan or to the Musain. Today, however she worked overtime so she would be gone all day. Due to this, she was going to have Grantaire watch Ethan until he has to go to work and then take Ethan to Cosette and Marius's for the evening. As if by some telepathy, she heard knocking at her door, signaling that Grantaire was there. She opened the door to find the one and only, Grantaire standing with a blue tote in his arms.

"While I would normally give you a hug and say hello, I kinda can't due to that tote." Eponine said giving the said tote a skeptical look. Grantaire just laughed.

"Well if you let me in then I could put this down and give you a hug." He said. Eponine nodded before letting him in. Grantarie sat the tote down before giving Eponine a bear hug.

Ethan, obviously noticing who came in, squealed waiting for the attention to be on him.

Grantaire relased Eponine to look over at Ethan who just gave him a toothless smile.

"Yes?" Grantaire asked Ethan. Ethan squealed and gave another tootless grin to Grantaire who picked up out of the boucer and into the air, squealing all the way.

"Careful, he had a bottle not too long ago." Eponine warned. Grantaire brought Ethan close to him making a face which made Ethan giggle.

"Might I ask what's in that tote that you brought over?" Eponine question. Grantaire settled Ethan in his arms before giving her a questioning look.

"What?" Eponine said holding her hands up in defence,"I don't care if you bring a tote into my house, I just wanna know what's in it."

"Well if you must know," Grantaire started before he was interrupted by Ethan's squeal,"it's just some paperwork for work and some toys for Ethan."

Eponine gave him a look. The Amis know not to get Ethan anymore toys for one, he doesn't need anymore, he only plays with the ones he likes, and two, she was running out of storage.

"What?" Grantaire said defensively,"there from my parents. They were saving them for my kids but obviously, I'm not gonna have any in the near future or at all so they wanted to give them to Ethan." Grantaire gave her sad smile.

"Grantaire what are you talking about?" Eponine question,"You already have a kid." As soon as she said this, Grantaire looked at her, giving her a very confused and questioning look.

"Ethan," Eponine said walking up to her baby boy,"you're his first male infulence. You've helped me raise him. You're like his father." Eponine said. Grantaire scoffed.

"Please Ep, me, Apollo? Never." Grantaire said shaking his head at the thought of being compared to Enjolras. He wasn't even one-fourth the man that he was. He wasn't raise Ethan, Eponine was. Enjolras was the perfect father even if he never had the chance to really be one, Grantaire was far from a perfect father.

Eponine sighed in frustration,"Grantaire, no matter what you think, you will always be the the male figure in Ethan's life." Grantaire just rolled his eyes while Ethan was focused on playing with one of Grantaire buttons on his shirt.

Eponine sighed, she didn't have time this. She had to leave for work. She took Ethan from Grantaire's arms gave him a kiss and hug before handing him back to Grantaire before planting a quick peck on his cheek.

"Don't forget," Eponine said as she was heading out the door,"he has full bottles in the fridge, all you have to do is warm it up and don't forget to put some in the bags for 'Setta's."

"Alright." Grantaire said.

Grantaire sighed, what did Eponine see in him? Oh well, he can't think about that now, he need to keep his focus on Ethan.

* * *

The day went by slowly for Eponine except for the two rush hours. Eponine sighed as she had been assigned to close. God, she hated closing. She was tired and all she wanted to do was go get her baby, go home, and cuddle up with him. She sighed, 5 more minutes until it was officially time to go home.

She started wiping down the counters when she heard the door open. She looked up from wiping down the counter to see a man walk in. He had dark hair, blue eyes, looked about 5'7', and fairly light skin. He wore a vest with a white shirt underneath it, a bow tie around his neck, blue jeans with one of the knees looking like it there was about to be a hole in it if the pair was worn one more time, and had black converse on. He didn't look much older than she did, maybe about a year older. She found it kind of strange that he walked in when they closed in about 20 minutes, though not common, there have been a few occasions where someone would walk in near closing time. Normally it was to use the restroom or just to grab a bite or drink to go, but he sat down at the bar, clearly distressed over something.

"A shot of Whiskey please." The man said. Eponine got out a shot glass a poured if full of whiskey and put it in front of the man. He took the glass less than a millisecond after she had put it on the counter and downed it.

"Rough night?" Eponine asked. The man put the shot glass back down onto the counter.

"You have no idea." He said as he signaled for her to fill it again.

"Wanna talk about it?" Eponine asked as she refilled his glass. She had no idea why she had asked him if he wanted to talk about. Probably from past experiences with looking distress. She sat the shot glass back on the counter. The man just shrugged his shoulders before downing the drink.

"Just found out that my fiancé has been having this affair behind my back for the past 3 years. At our engagement party." The man said, pain evident in his eyes. Eponine cringed knowing all to well of the feeling of being cheated on.

"I'm sorry." Eponine said. The man just shrugged again.

"She was kinda a bitch anyway." The man said with a small smile. Eponine chuckled.

"Eponine." She stuck out her hand.

"Ethan." The man answered taking her hand and shaking it.

"Your name is Ethan?" Eponine questioned.

"Actually my real name is Daniel but I prefer to go by my middle name." He said

"Well, it's nice to meet you Daniel." Eponine said. She watched as the man scrunched up his nose at being called by his first name. Eponine laughed.

"It take it your not a fan of you first name." She said

"No." He replied with a smile.

"I think I like calling you Daniel," She said,"Also, my son's name is Ethan so I find it weird calling someone else Ethan." Ethan's face fell a little.

"You have a son?" He asked

"Yeah, it's a long story." She said in response

"Oh, believe me, I have time. No wedding to plan, no bitchy girlfriend to deal with." He said. Eponine laughed

"Only if you insist." Eponine said.

"I insist." He replied.

So Eponine spent the next hour and a half talking to this strange man whom she got to know fairly well. She learned that he came from a somewhat wealthy family but they always were involved in the community and saw everyone as equal. As well as that he had 4 sister, all older than him.

He learned that her parents were in jail for child abuse among other things. That she had a husband that served in the military and died while deployed while she was four months pregnant with their son and learned that her son, who was now 3 months old, looked a lot like his father. He also learned that she had a very close nit group of friends who were considered her son's uncles and aunts.

The pair was laughing about a story that Eponine had just told about a drunken Grantaire at a bar one time when she checked her phone.

"Shit!" Eponine said before racing to take off her apron.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"I was suppose to pick my son up an hour and fifteen minutes ago." Eponine said rushing to put things away.

"Wow, has it really been that long?" He asked

"Yeah, I'm sorry to have to ask you this but you're gonna have to leave." Eponine said with a sympathy smile.

"It's ok," Daniel said,"I need to get going away." He said as he walked over to the door.

"See you again sometime?" He called out to Eponine as she was shutting off all the lights.

"Sure." She called out before he walked away. Eponine quickly locked the building before hopping in her car and driving off to Cosette and Marius's

* * *

Eponine pulled into the driveway of Cosette and Marius's house. She quickly shut off the engine before hopping out and practically running up to the front door. She knock a few times before the door flew open revealing a very disheavled Marius and a very tired looking Cosette.

"I'm so sorry." Eponine began but was given the look by both Marius and Cosette.

"Look I'm sorry." Eponine said hold her hands up to surrender,"This guy came in like 5 minutes before closing and asked for a shot of whiskey so I just gave him a shot and just asked if he had a rough night. I didn't expect him to answer, I just thought that he would grunt in response and then I would finish cleaning up and then ask him to leave because we were closing. I didn't think we would have a conversation that would last an hour and half." Eponine exclamied. Cosette sighed. She lead Eponine to the couch while she still held a very awake Ethan.

"I thought that you might've forgotten him." Cosette said absentmindedly while they sat down.

"Oh God," Eponine put her head into her hands,"I'm a terrible mother."

Cosette quickly realized what she had said.

"Eponine," Cosette said putting a hand on her friend's shoulder making her look up at her, "you're not a terrible mother. I'm sorry, Ethan's just been fussy all day since he got here. He wouldn't go down for a nap, he wouldn't take a bottle when I gave it to him, and I changed him and he was still fussy."

Eponine thought for a minute,"Did you give him his pacifier?" Cosette looked at her for a few seconds.

"There was a pacifier?" She questioned

"Yes," Eponine said wearily,"it should've been in the diaper bag." Cosette gritted her teeth.

"There was a diaper bag?" Cosette asked through gritted teeth. Realization dawned on Eponine.

She sighed,"Grantaire forgot the diaper bag didn't he?" Eponine question rubbing her forehead as Cosette nodded.

"Wait, what all did he bring and what time?" Eponine questioned.

"He brough Ethan, of course, the carseat, a blanket, and some toys around 1:55, 2." Cosette said.

"If he didn't bring the diaper bag or any bottles, then how did you change him and try to feed him?" Eponine question.

"We watched one of Marius's nephew's not to long ago so we still had stuff left over from then." Cosette explanined.

"Was the bottle baby formula?" Eponine questioned

"Yes." Cosette said somewhat concerned. Eponine chuckled

"What? Cosette questioned.

"My guess on what happened is Grantaire forgot to feed Ethan before he left because he normally takes his nap around 2 so he eats before that so he was probably hungry which is why he wouldn't go down and he doesn't like formula." Eponine explained.

"But then how do you...oh." Cosette said.

"How does she do what?" Marius questioned.

"I was confused for a minuted on how she got Ethan to take bottles if he didn't like formula but then I realized what she did." Cosette explained to Marius who just gave them a very confused look.

"I-I don't understand." Marius said.

"Marius," Eponine said getting his attention,"I still breast feed, it's just in a bottle." Marius looked at her like she had some syfy techinology that was still 50 years into the future.

"But how?" Marius questioned

"There's a pump that I use." Eponine said.

"Oh." Was all that Marius could say.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Cosette questioned.

"Surprisingly no," Eponine said,"It's just like breast feeding but instead of it going directly to the baby, it goes into a bottle for later." Eponine explained. Outta the corner of her eye she could see Marius squirming. She loved taking every single opportunity she could to make Marius uncomfortable.

Marius was getting ready to say something when he was cut off my Ethan's cry and all the attention went onto Ethan squirming in Cosette's lap as she tried to keep ahold of him.

"Awe, my baby." Eponin said as she took him out of Cosette's lap and held him to her chest and he was instantly calmer. Marius and Cosette both looked at Eponine like she was some mircule worker.

"Well, I better get home and get this one fed before putting him down." Eponine said as she stood up and started to put Ethan into his carseat. Ethan started to gett fussy as soon as he was out of his mother's grasp.

"Alright," Eponine said as she gather Ethan's things,"I'll see you guys later. Sorry you had to deal with a fusy him all evening. I'll make sure to get Grantaire for that." Eponine with a smile as she headed for the door.

"Thanks for watching him today." Eponine said as she walked out of the door.

"No problem," Cosette said,"and he wasn't too bad." Cosette said as she walked with Eponine to her car.

"Well, hey," Eponine said as she started to put Ethan in the car,"gives you and Marius time to practice." She said with a wink to which Cosette just laughed at.

"Whatever," Cosette said,"bye." She gave Eponine a hug before see Eponine back out of her driveway and off to her house.

* * *

Eponine unlocked the front door and turned on the lights. She sat Ethan down on the couch and right next to it was the forgotten diaper bag. Eponing rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe Grantaire sometimes.

She got a very sleepy Ethan out of his carseat before taking him to get changed. Once he was changed Eponine quickly changed herself into one of Enjolras's t-shirts before setting down on her bed and started to fed Ethan.

Once he was all done, she laid him down and covered him up in his crib before climbing into her bed. Right before she fell asleep, she rolled over and kissed Enjolras's pillow.

"I love and miss you." She whispered before laying back down and falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

A/N: Awe, poor Ep. At least she still has Ethan. Tell me what you think of Daniel. Should he stay? Should he go? Do you want more Enjolras? Tell me! Until next time! :P


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